Land of the rising sun – Part 2

It’s been months since I wrote my last post. I’ve been super busy at work and don’t have any time to continue the post. Tbh, I don’t know how bloggers do this

Anyway, now that I have time, here are some of the places I visited that I want to tell you guys.

OSAKA

If you’re traveling to Osaka, then you will wind up at Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori at some point. Going to Osaka without making a stop here is like going to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower. It’s the it place to shop, eat and stroll in Osaka. The giant Glico Man is Dotonbori’s most iconic landmark. The two most conspicuous dishes offered by Dotonbori street vendors are takoyaki and okonomiyaki, a pancake mix made with shrimps, pork, mountain yams and vegetables.

ORANGE STREET (Minamihorie)

I was looking around for a “neighborhood” brand store in Osaka and found on their website that they’re located in Minamihorie area. It turns out that this neighborhood is one of the trendiest places in Osaka. You can find many indie and cool brands here.

The street name is Orange Street/ Tachibana, all the boutiques here are hot on Osaka’s trendiness barometer. Think of Tokyo’s Harajuku’s backstreets, Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, London’s Shoreditch and Melbourne’s Fitzroy etc – you get the idea. Lots of different styles crammed into hundreds of small, perfectly turned out apparel stores.

Tachibana-dori includes the entire area around Minamihorie Street

OSAKA HOUSING MUSEUM

For you who wants to take photos wearing kimono but traveling on a budget, this place is super duper uber recommended. It allows you to wear kimono (not the real one of course) for only 1500 yen ($15) and take photos inside a Japanese traditional house (fake one of course). But I really think that this is a better choice than to spend $300 on a kimono rent in Kyoto.

KYOTO

I had the best time in Kyoto, the weather is sooo nice, the mood is good, everything was so pretty, Arashiyama was crazy beautiful, I enjoyed every second of my trip here.

Think about staying at least a day in Arashiyama, it’s like being born again, seeing all the nature and people. I’m truly in love with the place